Sir James Laing (1823–1901) was a British shipbuilder and founder of James Laing & Sons in Sunderland.

Life

Deptford Yard marked on the 1857 map of Sunderland

Etal Manor Etal Northumberland - geograph

He was born at Deptford House in

Bishopwearmouth Bishopwearmouth is a former village and parish which now constitutes the west side of Sunderland City Centre, merging with the settlement as it expanded outwards in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is home to the Sunderland Minster church, which ...

(later known as Sunderland) on 11 January 1823 the only son of Philip Laing and Anne Jobling. His father was also a shipbuilder, having founded Laings of Deptford Yard with his brother John Laing (both from Fife) in 1793. Deptford Yard was a satelitte facility linked to

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

but based in Sunderland. Their first ship the "Horta" had been built on the Harbour Sands near Sunderland. They then formed a shipbuilding yard on a bend on the River Wear. In 1843 James Laing took over the business and renamed it "James Laing & Sons". The company had a strong connection to Duncan Dunbar & Co, building one ship per year for them from 1843 to 1863. Duncan Dunbar continued to build ships but switched builder to Pile, Hay & Co in Sunderland. Laing & Co is credited with the invention of the first

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

around 1855. James was Chairman of the River Wear Commission for 32 years from 1868 to 1900. Linked to this oil interest, which mainly obtained oil from

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, Laing was involved from a very early stage in the construction and control of the Suez Canal and from around 1856 was a Director of the

Suez Canal Company Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same b ...

. In this capacity in 1883 he represented British shipowners in lowering fees and duties at the canal. From 1879 he was Sheriff of Durham and was also Deputy Lieutenant of the county. In 1881 he stood unsuccessfully as Liberal candidate for

North Durham North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, losing to Sir George Elliot the Conservative candidate. James was knighted by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

in 1897. He died on 15 December 1901 at his residence

Etal Etal ( )not is a small village in the far north of the county of Northumberland, England, in the civil parish of Ford. It lies on a bridging point of the River Till ten miles south west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and includes the substantial ru ...

Manor in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

. There was a lull in ship production from 1902 to 1909 following his death but the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

revitalised the company and it was the highest producer of warships in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

: 18 ships totalling over 100,000 tons. The company records are held at the National Archive in Kew.

Ships built

* ''Agincourt'' (1844 ship) commissioned by Duncan Dunbar (1804-1862) as a prisoner transport ship * ''Sea Park'' (1845) for Duncan Dunbar * ''Amity'' (1853 ship) the yard's first iron steamer * ''Dunbar'' (1853 ship) * '' Duncan Dunbar'' (1857 ship) a clipper, the yard's twelfth ship * ''Dunbar Castle'' (1864 ship) * ''City of Adelaide'' (1864) completed by Pile, Hay & Co. * ''Queen Wilhelmina'' (1898 ship) * ''Umtata'' (1898 ship) * ''Tomoana'' (1899 ship)

Family

In 1847 he married Mary Tanner. *Philip Henry Laing (1849-1907) who took over the company *Mary Laing (b.1850) during which birth Mary Tanner died soon after Laing remarried in 1855, to Theresa Talbot Peacock (b.1832) daughter of Thomas Peacock. They married at St Andrew Church in Bishop Auckland. Their further children were: *George Laing (b.1856) *Florence T Laing (b.1860) twin *Thomas T Laing (b.1860) twin *Maud Laing (b.1863) *Sophia S Laing (b.1865) *Margaret J Laing (b.1868) *Eleanor S Laing (b.1870) *Louisa H Laing (b.1873) *Bryan Laing (b.1876)

Artistic recognition

He was portrayed by John Collier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laing, James 1823 births 1901 deaths People from Sunderland Businesspeople from Tyne and Wear British shipbuilders